NHL-PLAYER-NEWS-WIRE - Part 2

D Shea Weber notched his 17th goal of the season on an empty-net score. Weber moved into sole possession of second in defenseman goal scoring.

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NHL Note - Nashville Predators Radulov, Alex

LW Alexander Radulov re-introduced himself to the Detroit Red Wings in a dynamic way. The forward, who bolted the NHL for Russia in 2008, played his last NHL game against the Detroit Red Wings in the playoffs that year. On Friday, he scored a goal and added an assist.

D Jay Bouwmeester is yet again destined to miss the playoffs barring a miracle. The Flames defenseman, who is playing his ninth NHL season, has not skated in a Stanley Cup playoff game and will reach the NHL record for most games without reaching the playoffs unless the Flames somehow make it. To make matters worse, he scored on his own net to make it a 1-0 game for Colorado.

"I don't even know what happened. I just tried to clear the puck. It's not a very good feeling, that's for sure," he said. "It was rolling and I tried to play it across my body and put it in the corner. Obviously, it didn't go in the corner."

D James Wisniewski has missed six games because of a concussion after he was struck in the face by a puck on March 18 in Calgary. He hasn't played since, but will travel with the Blue Jackets on their last road trip of the season with an eye toward playing.

"I don't want to go the whole summer with any lingering doubts," Wisniewski told The Columbus Dispatch. "I want to get back out there, play as many games as I can and go into the summer knowing I'm good."

In 45 games, Wisniewski has five goals, 19 assists and a minus-17 rating. It's not what the Blue Jackets expected when they signed Wisniewski to a six-year, $33 million free-agent contract last summer.

RW Jiri Hudler scored his career-high 24th goal in the third period to cut Nashville's lead to 3-1. It was too little, too late, but it's a good accomplishment for Hudler, who had a disastrous 2010-11 season, when he scored only 10 goals and was a frequent healthy scratch.

D Nicklas Lidstrom has a minus-3 rating as he continues to get re-acclimated after missing 11 games with a deep bone bruise in his right ankle. Lidstrom has three points (goal, two assists) in four games since returning from the longest absence of his 20-year career.

C Henrik Zetterberg picked up an assist, extending his point streak to five games (four goals, five assists). He has been the team's best player over the past two months and has vaulted into the club's scoring lead with 68 points. A sore ankle had hampered his skating ability earlier this season, when he was struggling to score.

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NHL Note - Detroit Red Wings MacDonald, Joey

G Joey MacDonald has not abandoned hope of returning in the playoffs. He has been out since March 14 due to a bulging disc in his back and had a cortisone shot earlier this week. He hopes he can start working out off-ice next week. MacDonald said it will be "a little while'' before he'll be back on the ice. It's frustrating for MacDonald, who was called up from the Grand Rapids Griffins on Feb. 3 and soon replaced Ty Conklin as the backup.

G Jimmy Howard doesn't have much time to shake off the rust before the playoffs start. But after missing much of the past two months with a broken index finger and a strained groin, Howard is confident he'll be in peak form when the postseason begins.

Howard faced 26 shots in a 4-1 loss to Nashville Friday, his first game back after missing four with a sore groin, the same injury that idled him earlier in the month for three games.

He is only 1-5-2 in his past eight games.

In all, Howard has not dressed for seven of the previous 11 games and 15 of the past 25. But he is confident the groin issues won't resurface and that he will have enough time to prepare for the postseason.

LW Thomas Vanek scored again, running his streak of consecutive games with a goal to three. It's the first time the Sabres' perennial goal-scoring leader has goals in three straight games since Feb. 5-10. He has seven points in his last six games, adding four assists to the three goals.

Vanek has 26 goals this season, the seventh consecutive season the seven-year pro has reached the 25-goal milestone. Only four other players have scored 25 or more goals every season since the lockout: Calgary's Jarome Iginla, New Jersey's Ilya Kovalchuk, Columbus' Rick Nash and Washington's Alex Ovechkin.